Restrictive regime of custody of Rafis Gaiulin in the Dzhezkazgan prison colony of Kazakhstan is extended the second time by six months.

Rafis Rafitovich GALIULIN was born on 29 December 1970 in the city of Tselinograd (currently Astana) of Kazakhstan. He is married, has three children. He is a member of Hizb ut-Tahrir international political party, which is prohibited in Kazakhstan and does not hide his beliefs. He has been in prison since October 2009.

On 3 August 2010, Galiulin was sentenced to 7 years of imprisonment under the following Articles of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan:

— 233-1, Part 1 (Promotion of terrorism or public appeals to commit a terrorism offence, and equal distribution of materials of mentioned contents);

— 337-1, Part 1 (Organisation of the activity of a public or a religious association or another organisation, in respect of which there is a court decision which took legal effect about the prohibition of their activity or the liquidation on account of the implementation of extremism by them);

— 337-1, Part 2 (Participation in the activity of a public or a religious association or another organisation, in respect of which there is a court decision which took legal effect about the prohibition of their activity or the liquidation on account of the implementation of extremism by them).

Rafis Galiulin appealed the sentence to the courts of all instances including the Supreme Court of Kazakhstan.

Since 06.11.2014, he is serving his term in the Dzhezkazgan coolly (prison No.159/25 of the Department for Management of the Correctional System (DUIS)) where he was transferred from Prison No. LA-155/1 of the Almaty Regional office of the Committee on Management of the Criminal Correctional System.

Restrictive regime of custody was applied to Rafis Galaulin in November 2014 for six months following spread of his speech in the internet. Many things indicate that this video ended up in the internet not without involvement of the officers of the prison, who were interested in having grounds to apply the restrictive regime of custody.

Immediately upon Galiulin’s arrival at the prison colony No. 159/25 of the Department for Management of the Correctional System, its employees suggested to him to refuse to comply with the terms of his custody. He realised that this was a provocation and did not accept their “advice”. In response, 10 masked men beat up Galiulin with batons and demanded that he recorded a video message. Fearing for his already failing health, he appeared in the video. Galiulin knew in advance that such “violations” of the law attract extension of the sentence term or more restrictive regime of custody.

In accordance with Articles 135-139 of the Criminal Executive Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the strict regime of Galiulin’s custody expired in May 2015. It was immediately extended for further six months. The official reason was the discovery of razor blades, an article the prisoners are prohibited to possess, among Rafis Galiulin’s things. According to our source, the blade was planted among Galiulin’s things. It is worth noting that the incident occurred just before the end of the first terms of the punitive measure. In this manner, the authorities are carrying out their revenge on Galiulin for his refusal to announce his disaffiliation with Hizb ut-Tahrir publicly.

Rafis Galiulin is subjected to pressure throughout his prison sentence. The authorities applied a more restrictive regime of custody with the aim of restricting his access to visits, communication via telephone or in written form.

Numerous complaints of Rafis Galiulin’s family lead to an internal investigation, which revealed abuses by the officers of the administration. Following this, the regime of Galiulin’s custody was temporarily relaxed, the pressure eased.

According to witnesses, Rafis Galiulin was prohibited to perform religious rites during the holy month of Ramadan and he ate very little. Galiulin is experiencing stomachaches with increasing frequency. His eyesight is worsening, he is losing weight and his teeth are damaged.

Separation from his wife and children and the total pressure on him, especially at the time when his sentence is coming to an end, resulted in Rafis Galiulin’s depression. His family is extremely alarmed about his physical and psychological condition. It is clear that Galiulin wrote his recent letters under the supervision of the administration.

* * *

Association for Human Rights in Central Asia (AHRCA) expresses its concern about Rafis Galiulin’s condition. In this regard, we are sending reports to the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture and the UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief recounting physical and psychological exhaustion caused to the prisoner R. Galiulin persecuted for his religious beliefs.

AHRCA calls on the government of Kazakhstan to respect the Constitutional rights of its citizens.